Sunday, 19 February 2012

Schooling in Lochs 1797-1881

As a result
of a recent enquiry I thought I’d have a
look at educational provision in the Parish of Lochs, Lewis. The first
reference is to be found in The Statistical Account of Scotland where we learn from the Rev
Mr Alexander Simson that a Parochial
Schoolhouse had been built during the previous year and a ‘Society’ (presumably
SSPCK) schoolhouse constructed some two years prior to that. Two spinning
schools (the majority of spinning in the islands at the time was performed using the distaff and spindle rather than with a spinning wheel) were operating, paid for jointly by the wife of the proprietor, Colonel
Francis Humberston Mackenzie of Seaforth, and the SSPCK. This, in sum, was the situation
of schooling in Lochs in 1797.

The Rev
Robert Finlayson composed his entry for Lochs in The New Statistical Account of
Scotland in 1833 and the book itself was published in 1845, As an aside we may note
that, according to Finlayson, no Parish Register had been kept for Lochs before
his arrival in 1831 and in this regard his parish was suffering from a similar lack
of records as the neighbouring Parish of Harris. There were four schools
provided by the Gaelic School Society but no parish school as there was no accommodation
until the recent erection of a schoolhouse. I wonder what had become of the
Parochial Schoolhouse that Simson had mentioned?

By the time
of the eventual publication in 1845 many changes had occurred since Finlayson
penned his account but we can get a snapshot of educational provision from the
census taken in 1841.

The 1841
Census records five Schoolmasters in Lochs:

Peter
MacEwen, 35, Lemreway

Donald MacFarlane,
40, Laxay

Malcolm
MacCritchie, 35, North Shawbost

Allan Ross,
35, Keose

John Shaw,
50, Borroston(?)

The sole
Gaelic Teacher was:

John
MacLean, 25, Keose, b. Ross &
Cromarty

An eventful
decade later, one in which the Clearances, the Disruption and the ongoing Famines
were perhaps the most significant of several factors, sees a different set of six
Schoolmasters:

William
Denon, 50, Keose, b. Cromarty

William
MacKay, 28, Balallan, b. Durness, Sutherland

We may also
note the presence of an unemployed schoolmaster;

Donald
MacKey, 28, Loval, b. Durness, Sutherland

Donald was
one of seven members of the MacKay household at Loval Cottage, headed by his
widowed 64 year-old mother, and he was quite possibly the (twin?) brother of William
MacKay in Balallan.

The Gaelic (School) Teachers were:

John MacLean, 43, Laxay, b. Ross &
Cormarty

Norman
MacLennan, 51, Leurbost, b. Uig, Ross-shire

Murdo
MacDonald, 48, North Shawbost, b. Uig, Ross-shire

Malcolm
Morrison, 36, Calbost, b. Uig, Ross-shire

The presence
of four teachers in different locations certainly appears to match with the
provision of education by the Gaelic School society mentioned 18 years earlier
but the presence of North Shawbost in the census for Lochs is confusing me as I
thought it lay in the Parish of Barvas?

There is no
sign of much changing by 1861 when the only two schoolmasters are Angus Murray,
60, Schoolhouse, b. Dornoch, Sutherlandshire and locally-born John Smith, 28
and three teachers are to be seen:

There is
also Roderick MacLeod, 28, Cromore, b. Lochs who may have been the Gaelic
School’s teacher at this time whilst two families of fishermen were apparently the
sole occupants of a pair of school houses.

The 1872
Education (Scotland)Act introduced compulsory
English education, outlawing Gaelic from the school grounds with a rigour that
surpassed the vigour of previous centuries with which the banning of the wearing
of Highland dress and the carrying of arms had been accomplished.

Thus by 1881
schooling in Lochs had expanded but only one Gaelic School appears to have
survived:

In addition
we have another ten Teachers, Assistant Teachers & Pupil Teachers recorded:

Duncan
Fraser, 21, Crossbost, b. Daviot, Inverness-shire

Donald
MacLeod, 16, Laxay, b. Lochs

Murdo
Martin, 19, Arivruaich, b. Uig, Ross-shire

Kenneth
MacKenzie, 26, Gravir, b. Gravir

Donald
MacKenzie, 19, Grimshader, b. Lochs

Donald
MacKinnon, 25, Balallan, b. Lochs

John
MacLeod, 60, Cromore, b. Harris (Gaelic School)

Murdo
MacLeod, 37, Kershader, b. Lochs

Alexander
Morrison, 28, Cromore, b. Lochs

Alex Ross,
54, Balallan, b. Perth, Blair

In summary, from the scant evidence that such records as these provide, it appears that the people of Lochs managed against all adversity to maintain Gaelic education for their children right up until the implementation of the 1872 Act. This is testament to the thirst for knowledge and respect for education that both of the Ministers who wrote for the Statistical Accounts had taken the time to remark upon in their respective reports and yet another rebuttal of the prevailing establishment view of the Gael...

4 comments:

It's a great pity that the 1801-1831 censuses were never published, certainly as far as Lochs history is concerned. Interesting piece, Peter, looking forward to your follow-up on the post-Napier era, as education was definitely an item in the Napier Commission's report.

The William Mackay age 28, shown in the 1851 census is my 3 X Great Grandfather. Donald is not his brother: William was illegitimate and his mother never married and lived in Durness with her sister and her husband all her life.

I have a copy of William's teaching Diploma, presented in Edinburgh and dated 22nd July 1848. I also have a certificate issued in Stornoway on 18th May 1848 which states he is qualified to teach navigation.

By 1861 William has abandoned his wife and son William Morrison Mackay (My 2 X Great Grandfather) and is living in Edinburgh, never returning to teaching, mainly being employed as a Cabman and sometimes Clerk, Collector Of Police. I'm not sure why he gave up teaching and finding out is on my list of things to do.

I also have original solicitor's letters and documents which show that after his death in 1891 his abandoned wife and son received the inheritance he had intended, according to his will, to go to cousins in Durness.